This invention pertains to keypad entry of Chinese characters in devices such as personal computers, portable computers, mobile phones, and remote controllers.
Nowadays, when people input Chinese characters into electronic devices, such as computers and other pervasive devices, they usually employ the Pin Yin Inputting Method or the Five-stroke Inputting Method. When using these methods to input Chinese characters, the operator usually has to remember which key on the keyboard corresponds to which Pin Yin character, or which key corresponds to which stroke or root. Afterwards, it is necessary for the operator to locate the corresponding key in order to correctly input a Pin Yin or a stroke. Therefore it is quite inconvenient for the operator to both remember the layout of the keys on the keyboard, and search the keyboard for the corresponding keys. Hence it is an aim in this field to design a new Chinese character inputting method which can be easily memorized and used to greatly reduce the burden of the operator.
It is a purpose of this invention to provide a method and an apparatus for inputting Chinese characters straightforwardly, which can reduce the time for searching the keyboard and the burden of memorization.
For realizing the above goal, the invention provides a Chinese character inputting apparatus used by the users to input Chinese characters. The apparatus includes, for example, ten keys arranged in a keypad layout, wherein Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in a horizontal direction;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in a vertical direction;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the left-lower direction from a first pressed key;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the right-lower direction from a first pressed key;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the right-upper direction from a first pressed key;
the other Chinese character strokes are represented by consecutively pressing two keys located respectively at the left-upper corner and right-lower corner of a keypad, or by consecutively pressing two keys located respectively at the right-upper corner and left-lower corner of a keypad. A conversion of the input information into the corresponding Chinese characters is then performed by the apparatus.
Moreover, the invention provides a method for inputting Chinese characters including; using ten keys arranged in a keypad layout to input Chinese characters, wherein
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in a horizontal direction;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in a vertical direction;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the left-lower direction from a first pressed key;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the right-lower direction from a first pressed key;
Chinese stroke xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d is represented by consecutively pressing at least two keys in the right-upper direction from a first pressed key;
the other Chinese strokes are represented by consecutively pressing two keys located respectively at the left-upper corner and right-lower corner of a keypad, or by consecutively pressing two keys located respectively at the right-upper corner and left-lower corner of a keypad, and converting the strokes input by the user in the above-mentioned steps into the corresponding Chinese characters.
The inputting method of the invention associates at least two consecutively pressed keys with a corresponding Chinese character stroke. When the user consecutively presses at least two keys associated with a stroke constituting a part of a Chinese character, the inputting method of the invention will generate the stroke according to the user input and then result in meaningful Chinese characters based on the inputted strokes. Since the method according to the invention is only concerned with the direction in which at least two keys are consecutively pressed, when a user wants to input the strokes, it is only necessary for him/her to remember the direction in which the keys are pressed corresponding to a stroke without considering which keys to select, thereby greatly reducing the memorization burden.